Saturday, October 25, 2008

태양(太陽) is the sino-Korean word for "the sun." It literally means "big star." 태(太) means "big," and 양(陽) means "star. 양(陽) can also mean "bright." The pure Korean word for "the sun" is 해.

The opposite of 태양(太陽) is 태음(太陰), which is a sino-Korean word for "the moon." It literally means "big shadow." 태(太) means "big," and 음(陰) means "shade" or "shadow." The pure Korean word for "the moon" is 달.

The Chinese characters 양(陽 - light) and 음(陰 - dark) form the word 음양(陰陽), which refers to the philosophy that everything in the universe has an opposite. The Chinese call it "yin-yang."